Housing Mobility and Downsizing at Older Ages in Britain and the United States

42 Pages Posted: 22 Sep 2010

See all articles by James W. Banks

James W. Banks

Institute for Fiscal Studies; The University of Manchester

Richard W. Blundell

UCL; Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

Zoé Oldfield

Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS)

James P. Smith

RAND Corporation; IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: September 21, 2010

Abstract

This paper examines geographic mobility and housing downsizing at older ages in Britain and America. Americans downsize housing much more than the British largely because Americans are much more mobile. The principal reasons for greater mobility among older Americans are two fold: (1) greater spatial distribution of geographic distribution of amenities (such as warm weather) and housing costs and (2) greater institutional rigidities in subsidized British rental housing providing stronger incentives for British renters not to move. This relatively flat British housing consumption with age may have significant implications for the form and amount of consumption smoothing at older ages.

Suggested Citation

Banks, James W. and Blundell, Richard W. and Oldfield, Zoe and Smith, James P., Housing Mobility and Downsizing at Older Ages in Britain and the United States (September 21, 2010). RAND Working Paper Series WR- 787, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1680627 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1680627

James W. Banks (Contact Author)

Institute for Fiscal Studies ( email )

7 Ridgmount Street
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United Kingdom

The University of Manchester

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Manchester, N/A M13 9PL
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Richard W. Blundell

UCL ( email )

Department of Economics
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HOME PAGE: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/~uctp39a/

Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

London
United Kingdom

Zoe Oldfield

Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) ( email )

7 Ridgmount Street
London, WC1E 7AE
United Kingdom

James P. Smith

RAND Corporation ( email )

P.O. Box 2138
1776 Main Street
Santa Monica, CA 90407-2138
United States

IZA Institute of Labor Economics ( email )

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

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